wharfhouse

Now who would have thought... You would think they would have designed them with that happening in mind... Sounds more lucrative than stealing fuel and catalytic converters... https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/consumer/electric-car-chargers-out-action-thieves-cut-cables

I think the seats are the same on the NX as the IS. If so, the non F sport seats all seem to suffer from some compression of the drivers seat base side bolster (the passenger side probably would too but usually used much less). If you look at photos of used cars you will see this is very common with some creasing in the leather. On my car it has some creasing on the bolster but it's been like that for many years and miles - my IS is a 2014 and done 146k miles. It was like it after a few years but hasn't got any worse for years. There are ways to tighten the leather that a car upholsterer could advice on and may help.

Other than what we can see from the official tests I wouldn't know how to find out. Facelift (post 2017) cars had some minor changes in various areas but AFAIK it didn't change the Euro NCAP rating. The crash tests evolve continuously and so any older car is inherently less safe (according to those tests) than a newly released car designed to meet those evolving tests.

That's very much in line with what I get and so all sounds good.

If it has a full service history (preferably Lexus or well documented if not) then it is a very reliable car and so just the usual car checks need to be done - like making sure all electrics and toys work properly and no warning lights etc. and checking for accident damage/repair. Although relatively cheap to run day-to-day and for routine maintenance when things out of the ordinary go wrong it can be very expensive for parts/labour (although there are sources of parts available from outside the UK that can be much cheaper). As there are relatively few of them there are not so many non-Lexus replacement (pattern) parts available and not too many second hand through breakers. Some parts are common with Toyota of course and so they are more available. If you are buying from a Lexus dealer the car should come with a comprehensive 12 month warranty. Regards the hybrid battery they are very robust with very few reported issues. My car is 10 years old in September and done 146K miles and no issues at all with the hybrid battery and fuel consumption is just as good as it ever was (if that drops then it can be a sign of a hybrid battery issue). As @Notamech mentioned, the hybrid battery can be covered under warranty for up to 15 years and unlimited mileage by having an annual hybrid health check undertaken by a Lexus dealers every 12 months or 10K miles (whichever comes first) - the cost of this is about £60. It's also done as part of a Lexus service for free. The only hybrid battery replacements I have seen on this forum for the IS 300h in 7 years were a couple with mileage at around 200K miles - but there have been others that have exceeded that without issue. The technology is very similar to the Toyota Prius and has proven reliable with those cars with many running over 200/300k miles without an issue. If you are buying privately or from a non-Lexus dealer it could be worth getting the hybrid health check done by a Lexus dealer as part of the deal? Although the mileage is low and so one wouldn't expect an issue it would give peace of mind and once the hybrid health check has been done you can then just keep renewing it every 12 months / 10k miles (whichever comes first) from there up to the 15 years old.

Lexus Roadside Assistance is run my the AA for Lexus so same breakdown assistance applies. However the LRA is more comprehensive for the price if you need everything it offers - main ones being you and your partner are covered for any car so that may mean you don't need a second breakdown cover for a partners car and LRA is European cover as standard which may not be on your AA comparison quote.

Good to hear that Lexus Reading were able to sort it out for you - the Lexus Reading service team (Renaldo is one of them) have always sorted mine quickly when I have renewed - I can understand them asking you to use your local Lexus dealer first as I don't know if the dealers make any money on the warranty and as it's a national warranty you can get repairs done at any Lexus dealer. My car is now coming up to the 150K mile limit for the warranty (though it's still less than 10 years old) and so I won't be able to renew my warranty any longer now.

Yes it's a lottery - run the comparison quotes and choose from what you get back. Many of the "unknown" brands belong to the large insurance companies and a quick Google will tell you which so worth considering all quotes. Some are alps brokers but you won't know where they place it so you may choose to skip those.

Jemca is a Lexus / Toyota dealership group but the ownership is ultimately the Toyota group (though a fairly complicated set of interim companies) - all other dealership groups are totally independent of Toyota AFAIK.

That's disappointing to hear. I've arranged my previous Extended Warranties and the the 10 Year Plus Extended Warranties through Lexus Reading (Jemca - they have a number of dealerships in the south-east) and they have alway been on the ball - even contacting me the last time to see if I wanted to renew. Maybe worth a call to them (assuming you haven't already)? Maybe others who have this will chime in if they have arranged it through dealers closer to you.

I would email cr@lexus.co.uk to check that is the case for certain as it's true that many dealers are not well clued up on it. I renewed mine in November last year and it was included.

Mine is IS 300h 2014 reg - I purchased it when it was two years old (so in 2016) when it had 40k miles on it. It now has 146k miles (so I've done over 100k miles). In that time virtually nothing but normal maintenance had been needed. There are others with many more miles than my car so don't worry about the miles so long as it's maintened to schedule and correctly it will last a long time and be reliable. If you service at a Lexus dealer you get 12 months / 10K miles (whichever comes first) extended warranty each time until the car is 10 years old / 100k miles (whichever come soonest) along with hybrid battery warranty. The hybrid battery warranty can also be maintained up to 15 years old and unlimited mileage by having Lexus service the car to schedule or paying for a hybrid health check every 12 months / 10k miles (whichever comes first). I run my car pretty much exclusively on Costco E5. The better mpg using E5 means I save money over E10 (Costco E5 is about 8p more per litre than E10} and the car runs smoother and quieter on E5 too.

I sometimes get a bit of "hesitation" at idle as you have mentioned - it's as though the engine just needs a few more revs. Only seems to happen in certain use cases - usually when the engine is warming up and the EV mode is close to kicking in. It's done it occasionally since I have had the car (which was 2 years old with 40K miles on it when I purchased it - now it's over 9 years old with 146K miles) so I haven't worried about it.

I had the same problem with water drips in the same place after a windscreen replacement - they hadn't done something correctly at the top of the screen and the water was running around the screen, behind the dash and dripping out under the glovebox. Although you haven't had the windscreen replaced as @CypressPhil suggests maybe the bonding has failed - it only takes a very small hole for a lot of water to get in. Worth focusing some running water onto the windscreen edges and see if it comes through.

Cheapeest is £1.52 for E5 at Tescos near me - sometimes more...!

Costco £1.46 a litre for E5 - depending on annual mileage worth joining Costco just for the fuel?

I would run quotes on one (or more) comparison sites. I was concerned over my IS 300h insurance this year, and although my existing provider (Tesco) was asking for 77% more this year than last, I used a comparison site and managed to get renewal for only 15% more with One Click which is with Aegis (I live in Berkshire so not as bad as London but still south-east weighted). Premiums and willingness to insure a particular marque/risk are very insurer dependent.

I've had two replacement screens in my IS 300h - one was Pilkington and the other Fuyao. Both were marked up as acoustic glass and other then the name on the glass I couldn't see or hear any difference between OEM and either of these. Both were fitted by Autoglass - I took the car to their centre to be done as it was within walking distance of where I live. I did notice after the last one was fitted that the passenger windscreen wiper was in a higher park position than before and so I removed and repositioned the wiper arm myself. May be worth taking a photo of where your wipers park now so you know they are put back in the same place. The fitter is right in that windscreens are cracked regularly, especially on today's potholed roads throwing up more stones. It's also one of those "probability" issues - for example on a previous car I had gone for many years with no problems and then had three replacement windscreens in nearly as many weeks...! On my IS 300h, I've had the current Fuyao windscreen in for a few years now but in the first year after it was fitted picked up two small bullseye marks near the rear view mirror. Fortunately these have got no worse and I've received no more (large) stone chips and none are a MoT failure. I don't see much sense in doing anything about stone chips as I know one day something will hit the windscreen necessitating another replacement.

I've actually found that 3rd party sometimes comes out MORE expensive than fully comprehensive when I've experimented before on the comparison sites!

There seems little rationale or logic behind the increases and to me just seems like insurers are out to get as much as they can while they can - in my case here are a few examples over the last couple of months: - My mothers 12 year old Audi A3 (lives in North Yorkshire) that two years ago was about £350 per annum, then last year £510, renewal this month was £933 - so 83% increase (all those years were with LV Insurance) - no change in circumstances other than she is 3 years older (now 86 years old) - LV would only reduce it £45 on calling them - ran comparison quotes and best she could get was £792 with another insurance company so took that. - My daughter and her fiancé with a 4 year old Kia Niro and a 13 year old Ford Fiesta (live on the south coast) and both cars with Admiral insurance multicar saw about a 25% increase in premiums - no change in circumstances except a year older (both under 30 years old) - but on calling Admiral they got the increase in premium roughly halved (so about 12% for the year). - My wife's 4 year old Toyota Yaris (we live in Berkshire) with Tesco Insurance went from £234 to £366 - so 56% increase - no change in circumstances. Ran comparison quotes and got it down to £294 with a different insurance company so changed to them. - My 9 year old Lexus IS 300h with Tesco Insurance went from £374 to £661 - so 77% increase - no change in circumstances. Ran comparison quotes and got it down to £429 with a different insurance company so changed to them. Having seen all of those within a few weeks of each other just highlights how broken the whole insurance market is.

How do you know the hybrid battery will need replacing soon - have you had any errors being shown? If the hybrid health check has been carried out to schedule (which if it's been serviced by Lexus it should have been) then the battery is warrantied for 15 years with unlimited mileage and so should be changed free of charge.

No - IMHO the ES is a totally different proposition to the IS - I'm simply keeping my IS for the foreseeable future and see what happens in the car market in the meantime. Lexus had lost the Dale of at least one new IS from me and soon could have been two.

Until you get bored of BMWs - which I did after quite a few that all seemed to start blending to be the same car even after new models were launched and wanted something left field and so chose the IS 300h which was different enough to be interesting and kept me interested such that I have no idea what to change to - so will keep it soldiering in for a while longer yet.

In D the "gears" are designed for hill descent etc as above to aid engine braking. In S and Sport mode the paddles it gearshift sequential give 6 simulated "gears" that can be used more like a normal gearbox - they work but after a few plays with them didn't see much benefit other than getting ready for a quick acceleration like an overtake - though in practice mash the pedal to the Floor and whatever you're in the car seems to deliver max power from engine and battery together anyway.